<h2>Name</h2>
<p>
The Surah has been so named after the word <em>al balad</em> in the first verse.
</p>
<h2>Period of Revelation</h2>
<p>
Its subject matter and style resemble those of the earliest Surahs
revealed at Makkah, but it contains a pointer which indicates that it
was sent down in the period when the disbelievers of Makkah had
resolved to oppose the Holy Prophet (upon whom be Allah's peace), and
made it lawful for themselves to commit tyranny and excess against him.
</p>
<h2>Theme and Subject Matter</h2>
<p>
In this Surah a vast subject has been compressed into a few brief
sentences, and it is a miracle of the Quran that a complete ideology
of life which could hardly be explained in a thick volume has been
abridged most effectively in brief sentences of this short Surah. Its
theme is to explain the true position of man in the world and of the
world in relation to man and to tell that God has shown to man both
the highways of good and evil, has also provided for him the means to
judge and see and follow them, and now it rests upon mans own effort
and judgment whether he chooses the path of virtue and reaches
felicity or adopts the path of vice and meets with doom. 
</p>
<p>
First, the
city of Makkah and the hardships being faced therein by the Holy
Prophet (upon whom be peace) and the state of the children of Adam
have been cited as a witness to the truth that this world is not a
place of rest and ease for man, where he might have been born to enjoy
life, but here he has been created into toil and struggle. If this
theme is read with verse 39 of Surah An-Najm (<em>Laisa lil insani illa ma
saa</em>: there is nothing for man but what he has striven for), it becomes
plain that in this world the future of man depends on his toil and
struggle, effort and striving. 
</p>
<p>
After this, man's misunderstanding that
he is all in all in this world and that there is no superior power to
watch what he does and to call him to account, has been refuted. 
</p>
<p>
Then,
taking one of the many moral concepts of ignorance held by man, as an
example, it has been pointed out what wrong criteria of merit and
greatness he has proposed for himself in the world. The person who for
ostentation and display squanders heaps of wealth, not only himself
prides upon his extravagances but the people also admire him for it
enthusiastically, whereas the Being Who is watching over his deeds,
sees by what methods he obtained the wealth and in what ways and with
what motives and intention he spent it. 
</p>
<p>
Then Allah says: We have given
man the means of knowledge and the faculties of thinking and
understanding and opened up before him both the highways of virtue and
vice: one way leads down to moral depravity, and it is an easy way
pleasing for the self; the other way leads up to moral heights, which
is steep like an uphill road, for scaling which man has to exercise
self- restraint. It is man's weakness that he prefers slipping down
into the abyss to scaling the cliff. 
</p>
<p>
Then, Allah has explained what
the steep road is by following which man can ascend to the heights. It
is that he should give up spending for ostentation, display and pride
and should spend his wealth to help the orphans and the needy, should
believe in Allah and His Religion and joining the company of believers
should participate in the construction of a society which should
fulfill the demands of virtue and righteousness patiently and should be
compassionate to the people. The end of those who follow this way is
that they would become worthy of Allah's mercies. On the contrary, the
end of those who follow the wrong way, is the fire of Hell from which
there is no escape.
</p>

